How big can a bootstrapper be?
Filed in archive Bootstrapper Resources by Shawn Hessinger on January 06, 2008
Stefan Topfer CEO and Chairman of WinWeb gives this plug to the beginning of Jason Holden's new series, Small is the New Big.
Stefan's a great supporter of bootstrapping and has some posts on the subject.
But both articles started me wondering about how small bootstrapped business needs to be.
A couple of thoughts:
• Companies as large as Microsoft and Dell started as bootstrapped businesses and grew with cash flow to become major players.
• Even computer giants like Apple had their humble beginnings and Steve Jobs reputedly bootstrapped the launch of Macintosh and later Pixar with revenue from existing enterprises.
• Greg Gianforte, founder of RightNow Technologies, insists he's not convinced there's any size limitation on bootstrapped companies or any point at which they must raise outside investment in this interview with Forbes.com.
• This said, bootstrapping is certainly about building capabilities and doing so often without a lot of money to start, so clearly starting small is what bootstrapping is all about.
• If your idea is too big to be bootstrapped all at once you can practice scalability in reverse breaking your concept into smaller pieces and then adding on as you increase cash flow for growth.
Other observations? Please ad them in the comment section below or link here from your blog and I'll return the favor.
Permalink: How big can a bootstrapper be?
Tags:
bootstrap bootstrapping business startup entrepreneur investment entrepreneurship bootstrapped entre
Trackback: http://www.creative-weblogging.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.pl/109606
